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Pig E. Bank
Piggot E. Bank (aka "Piggy Bank") was a criminal who focused his attentions on financial malfeasance. He was an overweight man with pointed ears and small eyes. His appearance resembled that of a pig. Criminal Mastermind At some point in the past, Bank had served a term in federal prison for financial crimes. During this time, his assets were seized. Upon his release, Bank sought to get revenge on the federal government. He and a group of associates sent letters to the FBI threatening to blow up a Presidential monument in Washington D.C. This was a ruse to direct the FBI's attention away from Bank's real target, the U.S. Mint. Bank and his accomplices robbed the Mint, but their scheme was discovered by Dick Tracy (who was taking a course at the FBI Training Center in Quantico, VA). Bank abandoned his gang and fled on a boat. The overloaded boat hit a sandbar and Bank was thrown overboard. Bank managed to escape consequences for his involvement in this plot (see Notes below). The Return of Pig E. Bank Bank appeared some time later, out of jail and living in Dick Tracy's city. He and his wife Greedelia planned to use the computer virus developed by Little Byte to manipulate the stock market and removed evidence against Bank from the FBI's computer database. Bank was arrested for his part in the scheme, but Greedelia was not charged. Pig E. Bank in Jail Pig E. Bank was sentenced to a term of two to five years in the State Prison. While imprisoned, his associate Smokes engaged in a land development plot that was expected to earn both of them a significant profit. Smokes' passion for tobacco smoking proved to be his undoing, though, and the new shopping mall that he had opened was burned down. During this time, Bank's teenage daughter Penny befriended the suspected saboteur Lug Sweeney. The otherwise law-abiding Penny sheltered the fugitive Sweeney in the Bank family's eight-room penthouse suite (located at the corner of Snob St. and English Ln.) until Lug was able to clear his name. Piggy's Land Grab After being released from jail, Pig E. Bank embarked on another land development scheme. He purchased a plot of land next to a National Park in a mountain area outside the city. He then planned to re-direct the water supply to the park, and depress attendance at the park to such an extent that the government would sell the property to him. He would then build luxury condominiums on the land. In order to monitor the progress of his scheme, Bank and his wife took up residence in an RV on the edge of the property that he had purchased. While Piggy and Greedelia claimed to enjoy "roughing it", their vehicle provided them with a number of creature comforts as well. Bank had hired a group of thugs to scare away campers in the National Park. Their efforts were too effective, resulting in the death of two campers who were attacked by a bear that the thugs had lured into the camping area. Their activities also attracted the attention of a mysterious mountain man named Zeb, who attempted to thwart their plans. Eventually, Bank's plan was stopped due to the combined efforts of Dick Tracy (who had been vactioning in the area), Park Ranger Timber Echo, Rattlesnake Thelma (the woman from whom Bank had bought the land), and Zeb. Bank was arrested for his part in the conspiracy to deter campers. He received a prison sentence of five to ten years. Piggy and Greedelia's daughter was not present during this affair, and she was not mentioned. The Return of Pig E. Bank in Jail While serving his term in a state prison, Pig E. Bank engaged in a new moneymaking scheme. He took advantage of the fact that many states were legalizing gambling, and he purchased a small fleet of riverboats. He planned to deploy the boats in New Orleans, and arranged to have them hidden in the swampy waters near the city. Since Bank was a convicted felon, the boats were purchased in his wife's name. He then made the boats available to serve as the base of operations for the efforts by Reverend Ralph Rath (aka Wrathful Ralph) to punish the revelers at Mardi Gras. Bank's plan was to have one of his attorneys convince the city council to end Mardi Gras and replace it with legalized riverboat gambling as a way to attract tourists. The plan was successful, though Rath was killed when he set of an explosion of one of the riverboats. Dick Tracy was in New Orleans on vacation and found himself drawn into the case. The ownership of the boats was discovered, and Tracy (who disapproved of legalized gambling) visited Greedelia. He convinced her that Piggy's plan would result in a significant tax burden, but that taxes could be avoided if she donated the boats to local charities. Greedelia agreed. She later called Piggy in prison to tell him, and he was angered by the news that his scheme had been thwarted. Pig E. Bank Meets B.O. Plenty Pig E. Bank returned to the city after leaving prison once again. He attempted to obtain a secret high-efficiency soybean fuel additive formula that was hidden on a pig farm owned by Stink Plenty, a relative of B.O. Plenty. Bank recruited Grimley Reaper and his gang of toughs to dispose of Stink and his wife (unaware that they had any other relatives), believing that he would then be able to purchase the farm cheaply and find the formula. Bank's plan was delayed when B.O. Plenty inherited the farm. After an attempt was made on his life, Plenty discovered the secret soybean research lab and brought it to the attention of Dick Tracy. Tracy learned of the additive's potency, but Grimley Reaper was able to steal the only completed sample of the additive and deliver it to Pig E. Bank. Bank then killed Reaper and he instructed his wife to claim that Reaper had been trying to rob and assault her. Pig E. Bank went to Houston to meet with an oil company executive. Bank tried to convince the executive to pay him one billion dollars in exchange for Bank destroying the soybean additive sample. Otherwise, Bank would sell the sample to the automotive manufacturers and devastate the gasoline industry. The executive agreed to Bank's terms, on the condition that they test the additive to prove its effectiveness. The test was successful, but the additive produced an extremely strong foul odor in vehicle exhaust. The oil executive deduced that no one would be willing to use a fuel additive that resulted in such a smell, and Bank left without being paid. Pig E. Bank was determined to find a way to remove the smell and returned to B.O. Plenty's pig farm. B.O. observed Bank trespassing, and he set his hungry pigs on the criminal. Bank was attacked by the pigs and his clothes were torn off in the struggle, but he managed to escape. Pig E. Bank's current status is unknown. Notes * Pig E. Bank was the most frequently recurring villain during the tenure of writer Mike Kilian, appearing in six different storylines (though he was not always the primary villain). * When Pig E. Bank first appeared, he had short dark hair that was combed close to his head. In later appearances, he was bald. This change in his appearance was not explained. * When Dick Tracy realized that Pig E. Bank was involved in the case of Little Byte, he referred to Bank as having "got away from us in Washington". It is not clear if Tracy meant that Bank had escaped arrest (which seems unlikely) or if he had managed to avoid prosecution through some legal chicanery. Category:Villains Category:Gang Bosses